How to Draw Attention

[FireEater]

Hi,

In English we might say 'Excuse me', if we are polite, or 'Hey you' or, even 'Hoy' if we are not. In French, en francais nous pouvons dire 'tiens' etc, in German, which is rather more polite, you might say 'Entschuldigen mir' or words to that effect. In Serbo-Croat we could say_ slushaj!

Hoping that I have made myself reasonably clear, here is my question: what do we say in Chinese to signal that NOW is a good time to pay a lot of attention?

Tataa!

[RicoRico]

i would try "lao jia". i think this is what you'd say to get attention in those situations. I'm pretty sure this isn't very rude too.

[Yuchi]

喂 (wèi) and 诶 (èi) comes to mind, use it as you would "hey!".

[FireEater]

Thanks,

So in effect,

If I say 'Hey', more or less in English, I will have said as much in Chinese?

It's good to know.

PS When you study a language you may want to use it for tricks. Me and about

Chinese, I want to use it, come what may, for real:roll:

Tataa!

[Long Zhiren]

En français, on peut dire aussi: "Choque!" [spelling?]

"Hey!" works just fine in Chinese too. I hear it often but am not sure if there's a character that corresponds to it. In some circumstances, like "Choque," Mandarin can use also: "小心!"

[Yuchi]

If I say 'Hey', more or less in English, I will have said as much in Chinese?

They do sound the similar (wei, ei, hey). I've never tried "hey!", sounds like an interesting experiment.

[Roee]

Haven't heard anyone in Shanghai say "劳驾“

Taxi drivers: 师傅!

Older ladies at Laosen/Family mart etc.: 阿姨!

Asking a question: "你好请问一下“ at times this is mandatory in order to prepare them mentaly that I can speak Chinese.

Random Male persona: 先生 !(or sisan. hehe)

Woman: 你好 etc.

Service: 服务员!

Taiwan: the all omnipotent: 不好意思！

Just to add: this is the way that /I personally/ use to attract people's attention -- it does not mean it's correct and for sure different people will use different "greetings" in different locations.

[Sashawang]

different people have different ways to draw attention, but one thing is important: be polite.

you can say: ni hao (hello) first,

if you want him or her to show you the way, you can say: 您能告诉我去...怎么走吗（could you show me the way to ... please?)

i also want to point out that in north China, we say "nin" instead of "ni" to the senior, but in south China, people say "ni" rather than "nin" even to the elderly, 'cause it is difficult for southern people to pronounce "nin".

what draws my attention is Tataa you use, it's typical British English, right? i first heard of it in my English class, and it reminds me of my teacher...

[againstwind]

“劳驾”(Láo jià) is usually used in North China, especially in Beijing. It's a local expression, but you can use it securely.

“不好意思”(Bù hăo yìsi) is another good expression, not only used in Taiwan.

In my opinion, "嘿"(Hèi) and "喂"(Wèi) are unmeet ,especially when you want to ask a stranger something. It's not polite enough. The two ways are very informal.

[Roee]

againstwind,

Where have you heard 不好意思 in Mainland China and in what context?

[889]

I tend to use "麻烦你!" Mafan ni! in those informal situations where the longer more polite expressions seem a bit overdone.

[Josh-J]

Where have you heard 不好意思 in Mainland China and in what context?

I'm not againstwind, but I think a chinesepod episode uses 不好意思, and they're based in Shanghai... can't remember the context though but I thought it meant 'sorry to bother you', kindof thing. Its been a while since I listened to that episode though..

[Roee]

Josh-J, 不好意思 is rarely used in Shanghai and in fact the only time I heard it here is from Taiwanese or foreigners who learned Mandarin in Taiwan.

FYI, in practice, 不好意思 meaning goes way way beyond "'sorry to bother you'", anyhow CP is definitely not my rope to swing on.

[Josh-J]

Josh-J, 不好意思 is rarely used in Shanghai and in fact the only time I heard it here is from Taiwanese or foreigners who learned Mandarin in Taiwan.

FYI, in practice, 不好意思 meaning goes way way beyond "'sorry to bother you'", anyhow CP is definitely not my rope to swing on.

Ah right, well I've never tried using it because I pretty much forgot about it until seeing it in this thread .. what is "CP"?

[selfconstruct]

不好意思 is rarely used in Shanghai and in fact the only time I heard it here is from Taiwanese or foreigners who learned Mandarin in Taiwan.

I believe in Hong Kong, 唔好意思 is used as an apology of sorts - to apologise for accidentally bumping into someone for example..

[skylee]

I believe in Hong Kong, 唔好意思 is used as an apology of sorts - to apologise for accidentally bumping into someone for example..

Yes, for that. And for stopping someone from whatever he/she is doing to give you the attention.

[Long Zhiren]

I've heard 不好意思 on the mainland (Hunan & Sichuan), on Taiwan and in the US.

I haven't heard it used to get anyone's attention though.

I've only heard it used as kind of a humble almost embarrassed expression, for example, when receiving a nice favor or something.

I had to differentiate the expression from 沒有意思 (to have no reason).

[bhchao]

I haven't heard it used to get anyone's attention though.

I've only heard it used as kind of a humble almost embarrassed expression, for example, when receiving a nice favor or something.

In my experience, I heard 對不起 used quite often to get someone's attention. 不好意思 can be used in the context where you're in a packed theater/cinema prior to the beginning of a show, and you would like a seated individual to move one seat over to accomodate you and your significant other.

[David W Jackson]

Informal: ting wode

Formal: qing zhuyi

Works for me.

[skylee]

If anyone says "ting wode" to me I am certain I would think "why must I" and then would ignore that person. It is simply not very polite.